Stories of
American Heroes -
Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado

Wilson Brown

TAPS

Fading light dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky,
Gleaming bright.
From afar drawing nigh,
Falls the night.

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, From the hills,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.

Then good night, Peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn
Shineth bright,
God is near, do not fear,
Friend, good night.

Natchez National Cemetery
G-3152

Born:1841 at Natchez, MS

Entered
Service in the US Navy from Mississippi River, MS

Earned The Medal of Honor During the Civil War For heroism
August 05, 1864 at Mobile Bay, AL

Died:January
24, 1900 at the age of 59

On August 5,
Union Admiral David Farragut's Union fleet of eighteen ships
entered Mobile Bay, Alabama, and received a devastating fire
from Forts Gaines and Morgan and other points. Admiral
Farragut's wooden ships fought valiantly under this devastating
fire as well as shells from the rebel gunboats and the ironclad
ram Tennessee. After passing the forts, Farragut forced the
Confederate naval forces under Admiral Franklin Buchanan, to
surrender, along with the prized ram Tennessee. Fort Morgan was
destroyed and this action effectively closed Mobile Bay as a
Confederate port, making the action one of the greatest Naval
victories of the war. Ninety sailors and eight Marines were
awarded Medals of Honor in this battle, the most for any single
day in history. Twelve crewmen of the flagship, U.S.S. Hartford
were numbered among these heroes, including Landsman Wilson
Brown. Knocked unconscious into the hold of the ship when an
enemy shellburst fatally wounded a man on the ladder above him,
Landsman Brown, upon regaining consciousness, promptly returned
to the shell whip on the berth deck and zealously continued to
perform his duties although four of the six men at this station
had been either killed or wounded.